Gender Struggles: Practical Approaches to Contemporary Feminism

(Paperback)

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Description

Contemporary feminist theory and postmodernism have left significant marks on how we think about practical matters, most notably the old and new forms of gender struggles that many women confront in their daily lives. The essays collected in "Gender Struggles" are designed to highlight those influences by addressing the following questions: What is practical feminism in a postmodern world How does rethinking the nature and boundaries of philosophy affect the way we understand practical issues that we confront daily What new forms of freedom, autonomy, subjectivity, social welfare, motherhood, public and private space, and political resistance have emerged from that Together, the 16 essays in this volume represent many different voices of feminists who boldly take up familiar, everyday concerns from unorthodox vantage points within new conceptual and theoretical frameworks. A wide range of issues in gender struggles are addressed, from the more familiar ones that for the last 30 years have been the mainstay of feminist scholarship (such as motherhood, beauty and sexual violence), to new topics inspired by post-industrialization and multiculturalism (such as the welfare state, cyberspace, hate speech and queer politics), and finally to topics that traditionally have not been seen as appropriate subjects for philosophizing (such as adoption, care work and the home).

Reviews

Gender Struggles represents the views of some of the most imaginative and provocative feminist thinkers of our time, demonstrating the practical significance of major theoretical innovations of the 20th Century for the everyday lives of women. These essays powerfully suggest that feminist philosophy can change the ways that we think about our lives, including work, child care and family, violence against women, our sense of self-worth, our speech, and our relations with each other. -- Kelly Oliver, SUNY, Stony Brook
A volume of first-rate essays, which demonstrates the continued vibrancy and diversity of feminist theory in the new century. -- Sonia Kruks, Robert S. Danforth Professor of Politics, Oberlin College; author of Retrieving Experience
This intriguing collection offers a unique combination of philosophically bold and theoretically astute essays on practical feminist issues concerning everyday life and 'real world' politics. Feminist philosophy in the best of both senses! -- Linda Martn Alcoff, Hunter College

Author Bio

Constance L. Mui is associate professor of philosophy at Loyola University in New Orleans. Julien S. Murphy is professor of philosophy at the University of Southern Maine in Portland.